WWE Reportedly Was Willing To Move 10/30 WWE SmackDown Show To Later Start Time To Help WNBA Finals Broadcast

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that sources stated that WWE was willing to help out the WNBA over issues involving the broadcast of their upcoming WNBA Finals Game 6 between the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream on USA Network.

Shelburne reported that Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena CEO Steve Koonin had reached out to WWE President Nick Khan and asked if he would be willing to move the broadcast of this Friday’s WWE SmackDown show to accommodate Game 6 of the WNBA Finals that same night.

Shelburne also reported that if Game 6 were to be played from 7-9PM EST at the State Farm Arena, this would have led to WWE moving the start of their SmackDown show to an hour later. Khan reportedly told Noonin that WWE would be fine with the later broadcast window if it was needed to help the WNBA Finals play in a more appropriate arena.

This idea reportedly was later dropped due to concerns from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert about playing a potential Game 7 on Tuesday, November 3, which would have been against Election Night coverage of this year’s U.S. midterm elections. The WNBA reportedly moved back to the idea of playing Game 6 at a start time of 12:30 PM EST on Thursday, October 29 instead, which the league officially announced on Wednesday.

Prior to the official announcement, Game 6 of this year’s WNBA Finals had been without a venue and start time in the lead up to it.